Broughton Tin Can Band

Broughton in Northamptonshire is the normally peaceful setting for one of the most raucous customs in the UK calendar. Every December, on the first Sunday after the 12th (today),the locals make as much noise as possible using whatever instruments they have to hand such as pans, kettles and anything else that can be beaten to make a noise, accompanied by whistle-blowing, wailing and shrieking. It’s all to drive away evil spirits or mark the village boundaries and has been happening for as long as anyone cares to remember. 

It all begins just after the church clock strikes midnight. The vicar appears under the light at the church gate to bless the assembled group, who appear out of nowhere all of a sudden, then a brisk walk around the village follows amidst the bangs, crashes and trumpeting. After arriving back at the church gates, the Band all join hands in a circle to sing Auld Lang Syne before heading home.

The Broughton Tin Can Band has had as rough a journey as the music. It has always been controversial and complaints from local residents in 1929 led to the Parish council trying to stop what they saw as an undated and clearly anti-social practice noting that: 

'Notice is hereby given that at a meeting at Broughton Parish council given on September 17th 1929, it was resolved that the practice of the Beating of Tin Kettles and the noise created thereby on Broughton streets must cease and will not be allowed.' 

People turned up all the same and arrests were made and 54 people were fined. So the villagers held a dance which paid for the fines. The following year there were fewer arrests and, after a few more years, the council gave up trying to stop it.

One interesting possible origin for the event lies with the 'Tander Days' once enjoyed by lace makers, of which there were a number in Northamptonshire. Thomas Sternberg, author of Dialect and Folklore of Northamptonshire collected the following account from the mid 1880s which looks significant: 

'Tander – of the numerous red-letter days which diversified the lives of our ancestors, this is the only one which has survived to our own times in anything like its pristine manner…Drinking and feasting prevail in a riotous extent. Towards evening the sober villagers appear to have suddenly smitten with a violent taste for masquerading. Women may be seen walking about in male attire, while men and boys donned the female dress, and visit each other’s cottages, drinking hot ‘eldern wine’; the staple beverage of the season.' 

The Tander custom has long since died out. However, it is interesting to speculate that the Broughton Tin Can Band may have arisen from its ashes.